We are part of the West Midlands Children's Network, which supports NHS care for babies, children, young people, and pregnant women who need specialist support.

To make sure your baby receives the right care in the right place it is sometimes necessary for your baby to be transferred to another neonatal unit. It is the aim of the network to keep families as close to home as possible. The unit your baby is moved to may not be your local hospital or where you booked for your maternity care but this depends on the level of care your baby needs. You may be transferred closer to your home address before discharge so that ongoing care can be provided by the team at your local hospital.

In the West Midlands there are:

5 Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) which provide all levels of care.

5 Local Neonatal Units (LNUs) which provide short term intensive care, high dependency and special care.

4 Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs) which provide immediate intensive care, short-term high dependency care and special care.

We have some meetings, to talk about new ideas and work on projects. These happen in different places, at different times, or online to make sure all members have the opportunity to get involved.

If meetings aren’t for you, that’s no problem. You can share your feedback in other ways — by video, voice note, WhatsApp, polls, phone or email. Whatever is easiest for you.

The types of projects we focus on, include:

💬 Sharing Experiences

We give feedback and talk about what it was like having a baby in neonatal care.

🎨 Creating Helpful Resources

We work with staff and partners to make family guides, leaflets and posters.

📣 Speaking Up for Families

We share families’ voices and stories in network meetings.

🛠️ Improving Services

We look at plans and projects and help make them better for families.

📘 Supporting Staff Learning

We share real experiences to help staff learn and understand neonatal care.

🤝 Working With MNVPs

We work with local Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnerships to make sure neonatal families are included in the whole maternity journey.

We are a group of parents from across the West Midlands who have lived experience of caring for a baby who has spent time in one (or more) of the 15 neonatal units across the region. 

We work together to represent the experiences of neonatal families in supporting improvements and changes to neonatal services across the West Midlands.

Information about the PAG is included in the attached document.

This ethos document gives some details about what's expected and how it works.